lighting

Cinematography for Directors: The Crew

This post could just as well be addressed to producers. While most filmmakers understand on a broad scale the different crafts that come together to make a film, like acting, production, art, cinematography, editing, music, and effects, it is not uncommon that as a department head I find myself having to explain to a director or producer the roles of the various crew members that make up my department and their importance to the project.
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Tags | cinematography, camera, grip, production, lighting, cinematography for directors, crew

Shooting “The Whistler” on ALEXA

As a Halloween treat, Openlight Pictures just released The Whistler, a small but spine-tingling short film. Bryce McGuire wrote and directed, Rod Blackhurst produced, and I was the cinematographer. Bryce wanted to keep the shoot small and intimate, so the entire consisted of just the three of us, plus the two leads, Kate Cobb and Josh Schell.
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Tags | lighting, zeiss, standard speeds, short film, suspense, bryce mcguire, rod blackhurst, alexa, behind the scenes, digital

Moonlight Exposure on “Jesus Fish”

Jesus Fish is a folkloric tale about a church-swindling con artist, his guilt-ridden brother, and a soul-judging lake monster said to devour sinners. Naturally, the action ends up in the lake during the dark of night.

Night exteriors pose a variety of challenges for the cinematographer, not the least of which being how to get an exposure while maintaining the feeling of darkness.
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Tags | test, jesus fish, film, lighting, exposure, sr2, behind the scenes

Lighting Exercise: EXT. POOL – NIGHT

This post was originally written in April 2011.

I always thought that this pool looked pretty at night time, with the small landscape lights, pool lights, and little waterfalls, but the lighting around the pool is very dim. One night I decided, just for fun, to try and shoot a theoretical scene in a way that played off the location’s natural beauty. Mainly this exercise was a way for me to explore a couple of ideas that I had been kicking around in my head, and to further develop an approach to lighting of letting the location do as much work for you as possible, in terms of both inspiration and actual illumination.
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Tags | digital, test, 7d, nikon, experiment, lighting